To what's new and old

The first week of therapy always brings some interesting thoughts. I think this year is even more interesting with my district's huge push towards inclusion. In many ways, I feel like a CF all over again because of these changes and I know that I am not certainly not alone. So here are a few things about this past week.....

1. So far the teachers either have 1) no idea what to do with me in their room; 2) think I'm there to observe because they didn't look at the schedule I sent out; 3) only know that I work on speech sounds. 4) tell me to do whatever I need to.

Obviously, I will be presenting again on what Speech-Language Pathologists do and it will be at a staff meeting rather than a district PD conference.

2. I absolutely love pushing into the 3rd grade social studies/science block. I think those blocks may actually turn out to be better than literacy (and definitely better than math). Art is also another interesting option for push-in. 

3. Data tracking for inclusion is the pits. I am using post-it notes and sticking them to a little book that contains the goals of all of my inclusion students. It works alright for the most part. I can stick these on the goal page sheets and add to them later in the day when I have time. However, I think it has diminished the quality of my notes considerably. 

4. I cannot seem to figure out the new school schedule. I show up to classrooms when children are supposed to be there....and they're still at specials or outside or at lunch, etc....I guess we are all still a little confused on that one. 

5. Thanks to google docs, I finally have access to all of the lesson plans for each grade level/week. I'm still figuring out what some of the lingo means, but I am glad to finally have a rudimentary idea of what is going on. 

6. I love my articulation groups.

7. All of the things that I am learning right now will make me a better clinician for years to come.